


Gamebenders

by xhangemhighx



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Badass Toph Beifong, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Established Relationship, Fluff, Gaming, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Secret Relationship, Video & Computer Games, background azula/ty lee/mai, gaymers, twitch streamer au, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:01:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25740271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xhangemhighx/pseuds/xhangemhighx
Summary: Sokka and Zuko are Twitch streamers who are secretly dating. Their fans try desperately to get them together, but neither seems to care about the other. They've gotta be up to something, right?Featuring arson, Toph rigging game shows, and a rant about Andrew Jackson.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 323





	Gamebenders

**Author's Note:**

> Some ideas were taken from Mr. Rumble Tumble games, namely the minecraft server. RTGame and CallMeKevin are amazing.

Today was a Monday and Mondays meant Skyrim. Specifically, "Modded Mondays" were for adding a ridiculous amount of mods to Skyrim and trying to kill Nazeem. The chat also told him to kill Nazeem and Zuko always did so, no matter the consequences. Nazeem was a little bitch and needed to die.

Zuko kept the essential mods, but added a few others such as: the talking nirnroot, slenderman, giant cows in Dragonsreach, and some really weird combat music. He booted up Twitch and began talking as viewers trickled in. The Skyrim streams never did as well as some of the others *cough* Fortnite *cough* and Zuko accepted that. As long as he was never forced to play Fortnite again.

"Hey guys, Zuko here." He began. "We're back for another Modded Monday. This time, I won't attack any more giants."

The chat urged him to make the same mistake again, but Zuko refused. He'd had to lead the giant back to a nearby village and duck in and out of the inn as his magicka replenished and the giant moved farther away. He'd killed it eventually, with the help of the guards and Lydia.

Chat urged him to eat the giant's toe now in his inventory. Zuko had expected this to happen and did so. The screen got blurry and dark before returning to normal. He'd watched Sokka do this in his Skyrim streams before, but couldn't help but cringe at the thought of eating a toe.

Zuko continued to play through the Dawnguard questline until he heard a loud explosion from the kitchen area. Zuko muted himself and put on a be right back screen.

"Sorry." He apologized. "My roommate is probably doing another science experiment."

Sokka had done these before and most had ended up badly. During the worst one, the table had been charred and Sokka had singed off his eyebrows. Zuko had banned kitchen experiments from then on. It seemed like Sokka hadn't listened.

"Sokka?" Zuko asked as he walked down the hall. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Sokka called out. "My potato just exploded in the microwave. The only loss is the hunger I feel. And maybe the microwave, it could be broken."

Zuko groaned. He didn't want to have to pay for any more repairs to the thing, it broke so easily and the landlord refused to let them buy a new one (no one knew why, but Toph suggested a secret drug stash hidden behind it). At least Sokka hadn't gotten hurt.

Zuko walked into the kitchen and sure enough, the goopy remains of a potato were splattered in the microwave. How had Sokka even done this? Zuko knew Sokka sucked at cooking, but it was a simple potato.

Sokka was busy wiping the microwave down with a paper towel. Zuko grabbed one from the roll and helped out, their fingers brushing as they attempted to clean the damn thing. At long last, it was mostly clean but still smelled like potato.

"I've gotta get back to my stream." Zuko motioned towards the office he streamed in. "Wanna go get some food after?"

Sokka smiled and planted a kiss on his boyfriend's cheek. "You know me so well."

* * *

Zuko was currently on Sokka's minecraft server, under the name dragonlover5. His usual 'firelordzuko' would give away his identity and people would figure out that he knew Sokka. Most members building in the downtown area of the city were required to be given special permission by the moderators or Sokka himself. Sokka had reserved a spot for Zuko to build his uncle's tea shop. Zuko loved building things from real life and found it relaxing to copy the familiarities of the shop he worked in part-time. He hoped it wouldn't become a giant meme or site of another cult gathering like the castle he built.

Sokka was helping him build, sitting beside him at the desk with a laptop and a wheeled chair that he enthusiastically span around in. Zuko was adding the inside and little details while Sokka built the outside. The not-so-realistic city was looking beautiful. The memes were mostly limited to the outskirts, with skyscrapers and beautiful buildings in the middle. Zuko had found a shrine to Shrek in the basement of a nice looking house, but didn't mention it to Sokka, just left a small note ordering the creator to start a cult with it.

"I could really go for some tea right now." Zuko gazed at the empty water bottle on his desk. "I used up all the tea bags."

Sokka smiled and exited the game, closing his computer and standing up. "I'll be back."

Zuko grinned and continued work on the tea shop. "You're the best."

* * *

Zuko was streaming Sea of Thieves on the Xbox One with Sokka, who was boldly named as masteroftheseas. They communicated through text - Sokka was in the other room and they couldn't speak to each other without chat figuring out who Sokka was. Zuko wished he'd gone public with the relationship months ago, but it would only cause backlash and possibly influence his father's court trial coming up. He and Sokka had agreed to keep it secret for as long as it needed to be.

Zuko was marking the spot on the map they were headed to next while Sokka played the accordion obnoxiously. Zuko joined in with the banjo after making sure they weren't going to crash into any rocks. Chat was still asking questions and trying to figure out who Sokka was. Zuko's insistence that they were "a random friend" only made things worse. Some people thought it was Aang, others claimed that it was Zuko's secret girlfriend. Those were either oblivious straight people or gays with a very broken gaydar. Zuko was confused on how some of these people still thought he was straight - had they seen the way he sat in chairs? Sokka thought it was hilarious, he was openly bi and everyone knew it.

"I don't have a secret girlfriend." Zuko sighed. He was getting tired of this. His personal life was his own and some people took it too far.

Zuko could swear he heard laughter from the other room where Sokka was. He rolled his eyes, gratefully that he rarely used webcam. His views were always lower whenever he turned on webcam, he'd learned that his scar wasn't the most inviting. Sokka never had that problem, he was good looking and knew it. His viewers knew it too - Sokka got hit on A LOT. He always brushed it off and pretended that it didn't happen. Zuko was grateful for that, but still felt the need to tell the world that Sokka was his.

Zuko climbed the ladder with an explosive barrel and put it in the crow's nest, as per habit. That way, it was somewhat safe if an enemy tried to suicide bomb them. It had happened before (fuck you, Jet) and Zuko was taking no chances. They continued on their treasure hunting and listening to Pirates of the Caribbean Theme but it's played on two calculators. That part wouldn't go on Youtube, but he was having fun and singing along. 

Three hours was coming closer and Zuko needed to end the stream. He always wrapped up what he was doing and quietly left. Sokka was the opposite. After trading in their goods at the outpost, Sokka had brought the barrels down and shot at them from the shore where they stood. Zuko watched as the ship went up in flames, the mast falling and the fire spreading below deck. The ship sunk in the shallow water, going to its watery grave.

Zuko said his goodbyes and ended the stream. He walked into Sokka's recording room to see the other man with his feet propped up on the desk, drinking coffee from a mug that read _women want me fish fear me_. He'd gotten it as a joke from Toph and refused to drink from any other mug (excluding the best cat dad mug Zuko had given him).

"Did you have to commit arson?" Zuko asked.

Sokka shrugged and set the mug down next to a pair of headphones and granola bar wrappers. "Couldn't resist."

It reminded Zuko of Azula's old tendencies to commit arson, gone now thankfully, therapy had been very helpful for both of them.

Zuko kissed the top of Sokka's forehead, then took a sip of the too sweet coffee. He nearly gagged. He was thirsty, but that had been a bad idea.

"Thirsty?" Sokka grinned. He had a mischievous glint in his eye. Zuko knew where this was going.

Zuko blushed a little. "Very."

Sokka grabbed his hand and led him to the bedroom... where some things occurred.

* * *

Zuko logged onto his secret tumblr account. He used it to talk to his fans and see their ridiculous theories. The first post he saw was evidence supporting the theory that he had a secret girlfriend. Zuko wanted to tell them off and yell at them, ever since he'd started dating Sokka, he only had eyes for him, and Zuko didn't even like girls. This situation was just awful. Even if he came out and said he was dating Sokka, some people would probably fetishize it and he'd lose followers. Zuko didn't really care about losing followers, but he wanted to be seen as a human being, not just "uwu gay boy with hot bf." His personal life was his own and he'd love it if strangers stopped trying to find out everything about him.

Zuko resisted the urge to post "I'm gay" on his main tumblr and closed the app. He opened a text from Toph. It was written in all caps, with several smirking emojis. How did she even get her voice to text to do that? The message read: YOU'RE DOING JEOPARDY SPARKY AND YOU BETTER FUCKING BRING SNOOZLES 

Toph wanted him and Sokka to do her Twitch Jeopardy? He'd never heard a worse idea in his life! Well, actually, some of Sokka's experiments were much worse. Zuko had never talked with Sokka in front of viewers, even though he'd featured several friends, including Katara, on his channel.

"Toph wants us to do Jeopardy together." Zuko yelled in the direction of the kitchen, where Sokka was waiting for his mac'n'cheese.

"Her rigged game?" Sokka yelled back.

Toph surely rigged every game of Jeopardy, as the contestant with the least amount of money before Final Jeopardy usually won and some questions seemed quite pointed in certain ways.

Zuko walked into the kitchen. "Yep. Wanna be scammed?"

"Like, both of us would be live on Twitch together?"

Zuko nodded and took a seat at the bar in the kitchen.

"Just as friends." Zuko said. "Or strangers could work too, I guess. People will figure it out eventually. Maybe not the dating part though."

Sokka pulled his mac'n'cheese out of the microwave and ate some, ignoring the fact that it was clearly scalding hot. He'd probably burn the roof of his mouth again and complain about it the rest of the day. 

"Sure." Sokka took another bite of mac'n'cheese.

"So you're up for it?" Zuko asked.

Sokka smirked. "I can't wait to win."

* * *

"What's up everyone? It's your host Toph." Toph announced. "Today we have Firelord Zuko, Boomerang Man, and Twinkle Toes with us."

"Hello, Zuko here." Zuko greeted.

Some loud coughing erupted from Sokka's side of the Discord call.

"Hey," Sokka said. "Sorry about that."

Sokka was probably eating more mac'n'cheese and had choked on it. He'd heard Sokka in the kitchen earlier, but hadn't bothered to leave his office to see what his boyfriend was doing.

Aang joined the Discord call and started chatting excitedly, clearly just happy to be there. He didn't care much for winning. Sokka and Zuko, however, were completely different. When game night came around, things got tense.

Toph started the game.

"The categories are Dank Memes, Weapons, Royalty, Song Parodies, and Sokka." She announced. "Aang gets to go first."

"Why is Sokka a category?" Zuko asked. "And why does Aang go first?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Sokka argued. "I'm fantastic." 

"Aang goes first because I said so." Toph replied. "You two fuckwads are too busy arguing."

"I'll take weapons for 1000!" Aang cried. Zuko knew that Aang knew nothing about weapons. He was a pacifist and a vegan. Zuko knew a lot about swords and knives, he'd spent years training in dao swords and often listened to Mai talk about knives. Sokka knew about weapons too, so Aang would obviously be outmatched in this category.

"What rifle used by the Americans during World War 2 is known for its namesake affect on the thumb?" Toph asked.

Zuko quickly rang in. The military history class he'd taken in high school had proven to be useful after all. "The M1 Garand."

"Correct!" Toph yelled. "Choose a new question."

"I'll take royalty for 400." Zuko decided.

"What daughter of Tsar Nicholas the Second was rumored to be alive despite her family's death in 1918?" Toph questioned.

Sokka rang in on this a second before Zuko. "Anastasia."

It was one of Katara's favorite movies when she was younger, so Sokka had watched it countless times and looked up the real story. It was pretty sad - the Russian royal family was murdered due to the Bolshevik Revolution and Nicholas the Second's declining public support, among other things. 

"Yep!" Toph replied. "Go on, Snoozles."

"Sokka for 1000!" Sokka called out. He knew himself better than anyone.

He answered the question correctly and moved on to the weapons category, where Zuko answered the question about civil war cavalry sabers. He chose Sokka for 400.

"It's the Daily Double." Toph cheered when the board played loud music.

"I'll wager 600." Zuko had 1000, but he knew Sokka well. He was confident in his choice.

"What song did Sokka play badly on the clarinet at his high school graduation?" Toph demanded. She had probably thought this was a hard question. Zuko hadn't gone to high school with Sokka and the answer could be any of the meme songs Sokka sang all the time.

Zuko sighed. Aang had showed him the video a couple weeks ago. Sokka still in his graduation robes, playing Katara's clarinet with a new reed and limited knowledge of reading sheet music.

"Wonderwall." Zuko answered.

Toph groaned. "You're right."

Zuko smiled. He didn't think of the fact that it gave away how well he knew Sokka.

The first round of Jeopardy ended with Zuko in the lead. Double Jeopardy started and Sokka quickly gained the most money, from the science category. He had a degree in Engineering and never used it, so he knew science well. Zuko had always struggled with it, preferring classes such as history and literature.

U.S. Presidents was the Final Jeopardy. Zuko waged 6000 of his 8400. This game was very rigged - Aang was homeschooled and knew little about the presidents, Sokka just remembered the ones he hated, and Zuko constantly infodumped American history facts. This would be easy.

The clue was 'This president once beat an assassin with a walking cane after a funeral."

Of course it was rigged, this was Toph. The answer was Andrew Jackson and this was the easiest question ever. Most people close to Zuko knew of his Andrew Jackson obsession. It wasn't something he would hide, in fact, he brought it up fairly often. The Gaang had learned to avoid talking about history and similar topics. Toph had clearly added this to provoke Zuko and help him win.

The copyrighted theme song ended and the answers were sent in, where Toph's text to voice thing would read them to her. She muted herself for a few seconds to hear the answers, then returned. 

"All of you got it right!" She said. "America's greatest president, Andrew Jackson."

"Andrew Jackson was an awful president!" Zuko exclaimed. "He was a racist and a murderer."

"Go on." Toph encouraged.

Zuko continued, unaware of the quiet chuckle and ear to ear grin on Toph's face. "He murdered countless Indians, forced them from their homes, used the army to enforce his policies, started a financial panic, and threatened to hang Calhoun, his former vice president. That guy was a total dick and [looks like the eagle from the Muppets](https://tigerlilytoph.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/john-calhoun-looks-like.jpg) though."  
  


"Tell us who won." Sokka interrupted. The scores still hadn't been shown and Toph was causing chaos like usual. She'd started playing [The Battle of New Orleans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-rNnIXJmZs) by Johnny Horton and was loudly arguing with Zuko, just for fun. As loud and bold as she was, Toph cared about people and didn't like what Andrew Jackson had done.

"Twinkle Toes." Toph yelled over the music. "He beat both of you."

"What?" Zuko and Sokka were now upset. They'd came to win and somehow Aang, the one that came to have fun, won. This wasn't fair at all. 

"Have a fun time with your prize money, Aang." Sokka was probably rolling his eyes. "I'm kicking you out of the family, you can't marry Katara."

Sokka left the discord call. 

"Good job Aang." Zuko had more sportsmanship, but that didn't mean he was a sore loser. He'd get his revenge soon with pranks on Aang in Sokka's minecraft server.

* * *

Zuko was playing The Sims 4 on stream. He was making a short series about a vampire sim that was currently enrolled in university to get a Fine Arts degree. His chat had insisted on something else, such as law, but Zuko had always liked the arts. His father had wanted him to follow in his footsteps and do business, but Zuko had rebelled against that. Azula had too, in her own way. After his father's trial, she'd probably take over the company and fix all the wrongs his father had done. Zuko gladly stayed out of that.

Ignoring his chat's begging for his sim to woohoo with Father Winter, Zuko continued his playthrough, joining the debate club and making friends with some of roommates. He edited some in cas - why did most of them look awful without custom content? One of them in particular caught his eye. He'd edited a sim named Douglas Cooper and made him look a little bit too much like Sokka. It wasn't too obvious, but Zuko was still a little concerned. Regardless, he got his sim to make a move.

Some of the chat was confused at first, asking Zuko why he was making his male sim flirt with another guy, cause heteronormativity and all, you know? Zuko just ignored it.

"John can be as gay as he wants." Zuko argued when he got a few homophobic comments. "If you don't support gay rights, you should have left this channel a long time ago."

The chat spammed pride flag emojis and Zuko smiled. His channel was a safe space for everyone, even if he hadn't come out yet. Would it be like this if he did? Zuko wanted to say it. Two simple words he'd never said before a crowd before. Two words that could change his life. Zuko didn't say them, but didn't completely block out the idea. Maybe one day, after his father's trial, he and Sokka could be publicly together. For now, all Zuko had was his secret. 

* * *

Zuko typically avoided going into Sokka's office - the neon lights made his eyes sting and the hum of the ac was unbearable. This time, things were a little different. Sokka had turned off the bright lights in favor of the dim light from the window and the ac was off, the room slightly warmer and less oppressive than usual. Zuko laid in Sokka's lap, twirling a strand of Sokka's hair around in his fingers while his boyfriend played Cities Skylines on mute.

Zuko enjoyed quiet times like these. He wasn't expected to talk or do anything, just sit there and breathe in the sweet, lemony smell of his boyfriend's body wash (he'd stopped using Axe months ago, after Zuko had told him he couldn't stand the smell). It was easy to lay there and let all his worries float away. Except that today was different. As much as he tried to ignore it, his father's trial was tomorrow.

Their relationship was fairly complicated. Ozai had always been an awful person to his family, but Zuko hadn't grasped that concept until years after his uncle had taken him in. Even now, there were times he doubted it. He'd been on one track for years and switching paths had been difficult, even if it had been the best thing he'd ever done. Just seeing Sokka was enough to confirm that.

When he was younger, he'd started playing video games as a way to hardship the outside world put on him. He wasn't forced to hold awkward conversations, take brutal math tests, or get put in detention for screaming when the jerk in front of him hadn't stopped making scratching, painful noises by shuffling a paper across the ground with his foot. He could just simply be. Iroh had encouraged him and Zuko had started a small Youtube channel of gaming videos, history rants, and swords. After picking up an unexpected big following on Youtube, he'd started streaming on Twitch. Zuko liked it more - he could ramble about whatever he wanted while playing video games and not worry about creating a video that viewers would like.

Zuko couldn't get his mind off his father's trial tomorrow. He knew that Ozai had done horrible things and would be convicted for sure, but he'd have to speak as a witness. He'd never done it before and really didn't want to. Sokka had helped him prepare what he was going to say and he'd looked up how to act and exactly what to do. That didn't quell the fear. He could say one wrong thing and delay the whole process.

"You alright darling?" Sokka asked.

Zuko realized he'd been running his hand through Sokka's hair and ended up tugging at it really hard. He did that to himself sometimes to ground himself, but never wanted to cause Sokka any discomfort. "Sorry. I'm just nervous."

"You're going to do well." Sokka reassured him. "You're prepared, your uncle will be there, and your father will get what he deserves."

Zuko buried his face in his boyfriend's neck. "That's what everyone keeps saying."

"They're right." Sokka replied. "Everything is going to work out."

"I hope so."

* * *

Zuko stood in the kitchen, holding a hot cup of tea and leaning his elbows on the counter. Azula sat across from him, still in the suit she'd worn to their father's trial. Zuko had invited her over afterwards, to eat dinner with him and Sokka. They'd ordered chinese food and watched the press coverage of Ozai's trial, mocking the mustache of the lawyer who defended him. After two weeks of stressful situations, the trial was finally over and Ozai was finally going to jail for tax fraud and child abuse. Many people were furious about it, especially Ozai's business investors, but that wasn't Zuko's problem. It was Azula's now, but she'd handle it well. 

Zuko turned the tv off when the story changed to a poll of the upcoming election. He hated politics. 

"I'm going to see a movie with Mai and Ty Lee later." Azula was talking to Sokka, who was sitting next to her. 

"What movie?" Sokka asked.

"I don't really remember." Azula told him. "Ty Lee wants to see it, so we agreed to go with her. Something about a video game character."

"You mean Sonic?" Zuko had seen commercials for it and definitely did not want to watch it. Sokka would probably stream it and they'd end up watching it anyway.

"Yeah. What's it about?" Azula asked. She never had time for pop culture, but was trying to get more into it. With Ty Lee's help, she'd been introduced to Girl in Red, Marvel, and the Jonas Brothers.

"Sonic the hedgehog." Sokka said. "Blue alien that collects rings. He lands on earth and tries to get home or something."

Azula raised an eyebrow. "Weird."

Sokka shrugged. "Tell me how it is. I might force Zuko to watch it with me."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Please don't."

Sokka grinned. "No promises."

Azula grabbed her phone, sitting on the counter, when it buzzed. 

"That's Mai." She announced. "My ride is here. See you tomorrow Zuzu."

Zuko walked his sister out the door and watched as she slid into the backseat, then kissed both Mai and Ty Lee before driving off. His sister was happy and openly herself, with people who loved her. Maybe Zuko could do it. What's the worst that could happen?

* * *

Zuko walked into the living room, where Sokka was watching some Egypt documentary on the history channel.

Breathe in for 4, hold for 7, out for 8. "I think I'm going to come out."

"Really?" Sokka paused his documentary. "Are you sure?"

Zuko nodded. "I've been thinking it over and I think it's a good idea. I really want to."

Sokka smiled. "Then you should do it."

Zuko sat down beside his boyfriend on the couch. "Do you wanna help?"

Sokka kissed his boyfriend's cheek. "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

Zuko set up the stream - he booted up Minecraft, put out an announcement on Twitter, and waited for viewers to stream in. He started off in normal fashion, ignoring the begging of his chat to tell him what important secret he promised he would tell them. He stepped into the tea shop he'd made on Minecraft and was swarmed by players. He started to walk around, taking in the place. It had turned into a store where players bought special items, thankfully, and not a cult. No photos of Shrek or Waluigi in sight.

After a few minutes of buying and selling things, Zuko decided it was time. 

"I have some things to tell you." He said, his voice shaking a little. He was both nervous and excited.

Zuko turned the webcam on.

"First." He threw this feet over the armrest of the chair and lounged across it. All the gays know that sitting incorrectly is just a sign that you're of them.

"Second." He turned the webcam to show the gay pride flag hanging on the other side of the room. He'd had it there for around a year, when he went to pride in disguise with Sokka.

"Third." Zuko turned the webcam back to show himself in the chair. He smiled devilishly at the webcam as Sokka leaned over the chair and kissed him. 

As expected, chat went wild with things like 'I knew it' and 'holy fuck they're actually dating'. Sokka laughed as he read the words appearing on screen. Zuko kissed Sokka again for good measure.

"This is my boyfriend Sokka." Zuko clarified. "I'm sure you all know him."

Sokka winked. "You better."

"We've been together for about one and a half years and moved in together a couple months ago." Zuko informed. "We kept it secret because of the whole thing with my father. You've all seen the news."

"If any of you say bad things about my boyfriend, I will fight you." Sokka added.

"No one is fighting anyone." Zuko sighed. "I've made my important announcement, the stream's over. I'll be streaming Minecraft tomorrow."

He paused. "With Sokka. Bye!"

Zuko raided Aang's stream of Flappy Bird, sending all his viewers to watch Aang try and beat the high score. He was a god at the game. 

* * *

Zuko splayed out on the bed in the hotel room, his head resting on his boyfriend's shoulder. He'd had a long day at TwitchCon, doing a meet and greet, playing video games, and watching Sokka lose the gaming championship. Zuko had enjoyed the meet and greet, despite how much energy it took out of him to talk to that many people. It made him realize how much he'd influenced the lives of others - something he never thought he would do. He'd donated to LGBT charities and created a safe space online where kids who were like him could watch his videos and see someone like them successful and happy, then they'd realize that they could be happy to. Zuko was proud of his legacy. Of course, there was still more to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Fuck Andrew Jackson
> 
> Most of the Jeopardy questions come from stuff my brother told me (he loves m1 garands for some reason), stuff I'm passionate about, and things I learned from academic team.
> 
> Also read about the Romanovs, it's super interesting
> 
> Next chapter will be a prequel explaining how they got together
> 
> I've realized that I often write Zuko as an autistic-coded character, mostly because I follow my own life experiences (bad idea, I suck at life and I'm not even professionally diagnosed) and I also have no idea how to convey emotion. I went back to rewrite this and make it pretty clear that he was autistic but I didn't do a very good job. The story doesn't explicitly say he is autistic, but I'm thinking he just tried to be "normal" for a long time like his father wanted but can now actually be himself.
> 
> Sorry for this ramble. Enjoy your day, thanks for reading.


End file.
